Forbidding birth control is the pinnacle of misogyny.
Abortion obviously is a very controversial issue, but I find the opposition to contraceptives fascinating for many reasons- I’m talking about standard birth control contraception, not emergency contraceptives.
The Catholic Church has long been against contraceptives- not only birth control and IUD, but also tubal ligation and
condoms. AFAIK as a non-Catholic myself contraceptive can be used for legitimate medical reasons other than preventing pregnancy- I would assume taking birth control for treating acne or managing ovarian cysts would be permitted.
Interestingly, polls show the overwhelming majority of self-identifying Catholics and even Catholics who report attending mass weekly overwhelmingly disagree with the Church. Per this Pew poll from 2016, 87% believe it’s not morally wrong or a moral issue- only 8% overall find it morally wrong. I imagine that number is even less today, 8 years later.
www.pewresearch.org
To my surprise this same poll shows only 3% of white evangelical Protestants believe contraception is morally wrong.
Most surprising to me was that of those who believe contraception is wrong, there is hardly a difference (likely no statistically significant difference) between right and left political affiliation. 5% of R/right leaning and 4% of D/left leaning believe contraceptives to be morally wrong. Upon further consideration, this probably has to do with Catholics generally leaning more left while Evangelicals are typically associated with right.
i suppose Catholics to some extent are far less interested in imposing their beliefs on others compared to evangelical Christians. Catholics also don’t have the same political influence as evangelicals.
I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised to see increasing conservative beliefs among evangelicals between 2016 and today, but it appears the number of people who believe these radical religious ideas is vastly overstated. As we saw clearly in referenda votes in red states with large evangelical populations, policies like banning abortion were overwhelmingly opposed. I think the numbers suggest the most radical voices are disproportionately amplified and while most evangelicals might legitimately believe abortion as morally wrong, they still recognize the need.
I think these polls are fascinating. They demonstrate widespread misconceptions and stereotypes not only perpetuated by left wing groups, but also how the evangelical right leaders may use these same misconceptions and stereotypes to promote unpopular ideas among their base as being much mainstream when they actually appear to have minority support.